Revision as of 21:15, November 4, 2008

The Eagle Scout Rank is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout Rank has been earned by more than 1.7 million young men. The title of "Eagle Scout" is held for life, thus giving rise to the phrase "Once an Eagle, always an Eagle".

Requirements include earning a number of merit badges and demonstrating Scout spirit, service, and leadership. This includes an extensive service project that the Scout plans, organizes, leads, and manages. Eagle Scouts are presented with a medal and a badge that visibly recognizes the accomplishments of the Scout. Additional recognition can be earned through Eagle Palms, awarded for completing additional tenure, leadership, and merit badge requirements.

Eagle Scout rank requirements

Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law in your daily life. List on your Eagle Scout Rank Application the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious, educational, and employer references.

Earn a total of 21 merit badges (10 more than you already have), including the following:

* You must choose only one merit badge listed in items h, i, and k. If you have earned more than one of the badges listed in items h, i, and/or k, choose one and list the remaining badges to make your total of 21.

** Assistant patrol leader and bugler are not approved positions of responsibility for the Eagle Scout rank. Likewise, a unit leader–assigned leadership project should not be used in lieu of serving in a position of responsibility.

While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project should benefit an organization other than Boy Scouting.) The project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader and unit committee, and the council or district before you start. You must use the Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project Workbook, BSA publication No. 521-927, in meeting this requirement. (To learn more about the Eagle Scout service project, see the Guide To Advancement, topics 9.0.2.0 through 9.0.2.15.)

Successfully complete an Eagle Scout board of review***. In preparation for your board of review, prepare and attach to your Eagle Scout Rank Application a statement of your ambitions and life purpose and a listing of positions held in your religious institution, school, camp, community, or other organizations, during which you demonstrated leadership skills. Include honors and awards received during this service. (This requirement may be met after age 18; see below.)

***If a Scout believes he has completed all requirements for Eagle, but is denied a unit signature or a Scoutmaster conference, he may request a board of review under disputed circumstances in accordance with Guide to Advancement, topic 8.0.3.2. If the board of review does not approve the Scout’s advancement, the decision may be appealed in accordance with Guide to Advancement, topic 8.0.4.0. Although rarely granted, if a Scout foresees that, due to no fault or choice of his own, he will be unable to complete the Eagle Scout rank requirements before age 18, he may apply for a limited time extension in accordance with 3 topic 9.0.4.0.

Official notes (part of the rank requirements)

As of Jan. 1, 2014, the Cooking merit badge is required for the Eagle Scout rank.

For Varsity Scouts working on Boy Scout requirements, replace "troop" with "team" and "Scoutmaster" with "Varsity Scout Coach." For Venturers working on Boy Scout requirements, replace "troop" with "crew" and "Scoutmaster" with "Crew Advisor." For Sea Scouts working on Boy Scout requirements, replace "troop" with "ship" and "Scoutmaster" with "Skipper."

AGE REQUIREMENT ELIGIBILITY. Merit badges, badges of rank, and Eagle Palms may be earned by a registered Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, or Venturer. He may earn these awards until his 18th birthday. Any Venturer who achieved the First Class rank as a Boy Scout in a troop or Varsity Scout in a team may continue working up to his 18th birthday toward the Star, Life, and Eagle Scout ranks and Eagle Palms. An Eagle Scout board of review may occur, without special approval, within three months after the 18th birthday. Local councils must preapprove those held three to six months afterward. To initiate approval, the candidate, his parent or guardian, the unit leader, or a unit committee member attaches to the application a statement explaining the delay. Consult the Guide To Advancement in the case where a board of review is to be conducted more than six months after a candidate’s 18th birthday.

If you have a permanent physical or mental disability, or a disability expected to last more than two years, or beyond age 18, you may become an Eagle Scout by qualifying for as many required merit badges as you can and qualifying for alternative merit badges for the rest. If you seek to become an Eagle Scout under this procedure, you must submit a special application to your local council service center. Your application must be approved by your council advancement committee before you can work on alternative merit badges.

History

Eagle Scout medal as published in the Handbook for Boys (1911)

The BSA's highest award was originally conceived of as the Wolf Scout, as shown in the June 1911 Official Handbook for Boys. The August 1911 handbook subsequently changed this to Eagle Scout. The medal illustrated in the handbook was a profile of an eagle in flight, but was changed to the current design before any were issued. In their original conceptions, Life Scout, Star Scout (Life preceded Star until 1924) and Eagle Scout were not ranks, but part of the merit badge system that recognized Scouts who had earned a specified number of merit badges. Eagle Scout was awarded to any First Class Scout who had earned 21 merit badges. Consequently, eight of the first nine Eagle Scouts did not earn the ranks of Life or Star.

The first Eagle Scout medal was awarded in 1912 to Arthur Rose Eldred, a 17-year-old member of Troop 1 of Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York. Eldred was notified that he was to be awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in a letter from Chief Scout Executive James West, dated August 21, 1912. The design of the Eagle Scout medal had not been finalized by the National Council, so the medal was not awarded until Labor Day, September 2, 1912. Eldred was the first of three generations of Eagle Scouts; his son and grandson hold the rank as well. Since then, more than 1.7 million Scouts have earned the rank. In 1982, 13-year-old Alexander Holsinger, of Normal, Illinois, was recognized as the one-millionth Eagle Scout.

A total of 1,835,410 Scouts have earned Eagle Scout as of the end of 2005; out of 83,486,083 Scouts since 1911, this is about 2 percent of the Boy Scouting membership. In 2005, 49,895 Eagle Scout awards were presented, about 5 percent of the 2005 membership. There are four known Nobel Prize laureates who are Eagle Scouts: Dudley R. Herschbach, Peter Agre, Robert Coleman Richardson, and Frederick Reines. One President of the United States (and one Vice-President), President Ford, was an Eagle Scout.[1]

Eagle Scout Insignia

1. The cloth badge is centered on the left pocket and is worn by youth Scouts only2. The Eagle medal is pinned on the upper flap of the left pocket and is worn by youth and adult members, but only for special occasions3. The Eagle Scout square knot is placed above the left pocket and is worn by adult Scouters only.